Or maybe I should say 13 year old friendly, but let's be honest here, a handful of us joined when we were younger than that.

Am I the only one who thinks that some of the content posted and discussed here is a little out of place for a site about Chao? Think about it, what age were you when you first looked up info about Chao? The site itself has been around a while.

I know we've grown a little bit but that shouldn't keep people away who are the age we were when we joined. So - and this is just my opinion on it all - shouldn't the older users maybe tone it down a bit? I get that talking about "mature" subjects is fun and cool when you're 13 but, and I've said this before, when you're 18 and there are possible 13 year olds around it's a little different. I'm just saying, maybe consider the few younger users we have when talking about stuff like MA TV shows and R18 video games. Right?

My case being that this is the internet, where no one is safe, and any attempts at making it otherwise are rendered null.

People who wish to stay away from objectionable content will stay away from objectionable content (which I have in the past) and those who don't care (most people on the planet, including parents)
will find it. Also looking back at the forum's more historically buried topics, there's a lot of topics focused on R rated movies and 18+ rated games anyways.

Allowing a child to roam the internet freely is effectively the child's parent's fault, and it's effectively their fault for these problems.

I say this because making this place more "child friendly" is like making one of those light beacons in Metroid Prime 2.

It's good. It's helpful. It's full of light. It's also a temporary barrier placed in the middle of a war zone that eventually expires.

In other words.

It doesn't matter what you do, it's the internet man.

That doesn't mean I'm not the same guy who made a Pandora's box comment about allowing any swears to be said on this site to begin with, but this is all probably futile in the long run.

That all said the rules are flimsy and need revising to be tighter about similar subjects.

I think that a fair rule of thumb could be comparing the degree of content to the ratings of the subject material: The site is focused on primarily E rated games, so that should probably be the tone we should focus toward, right? I mean maybe stretched to E10+ if we count Shadow the Hedgehog.

So yeah. I think we should at least hold a stronger standard. And that if the people don't, the forum's moderators should. If we can be okay with the term "funposting" we can watch our language at least.

It's a very subjective term when you say child friendly and I'd be interested in hearing what you mean in greater detail.

Let me clarify what I mean when I say things like MA/R18.

I'm starting to think subjects like pedophilia are too sensitive and explicit. Maybe I'm just being overprotective. And despite my history, I actually think talk about things like erotic games isn't appropriate either. I'm not saying we should cater to 8 year olds. Just that we do have somewhat younger users. Not that we should act like they're babies, it's just kinda weird to talk about work unsafe media on a forum about Sonic the Hedgehog, don't you think?

I think that a fair rule of thumb could be comparing the degree of content to the ratings of the subject material: The site is focused on primarily E rated games, so that should probably be the tone we should focus toward, right? I mean maybe stretched to E10+ if we count Shadow the Hedgehog.

(also side note for those unaware: the general age gap for pedophilia is 5 years, and begins at 16. for example, a 19 year old dating a 16 year old isn't pedophilia. a 19 year old dating a 13 year old is.)

Triert wrote:
I remember the old days when people would get shaped up by criticism and in turn be a better person.

So yeah. I think we should at least hold a stronger standard. And that if the people don't, the forum's moderators should.

This is pretty much my take on things. Back in the day it was very child-friendly more to the point of not insulting each other, not swearing etc. Now the internet has evolved (devolved) into talking about erotic games, half naked anime girls, life and relationship problems which get taken off track, etc.

Sure, it doesn't seem like a big deal because they are not crossing the borderline, but is a sonic forum where you really want to talk about this?

Heads up, that in the new year I'm looking to make a lot of changes to the forum structure, including clamping down on the rule-baiting and mod-trigger topics and posts being made (triert).

Chao Island Twitch Channel for Chao streaming!: http://twitch.tv/ChaoIsland/I have dragons as my servants and I have almighty powers.JmTsHaW:(list of CI users, as Sonic Battle characters) Chaos - Mooncow (He barely appears, Chaos also barely appears.)(00:45:53) xninjy: ur not old mooncow. old is 50 or 45.

I think it worth noting that child friendly can vary drastically depending on whose standards we're talking about. Since the ESRB ratings of the Sonic franchise was brought up, I'll mention that I know of at least one game series that has an All Ages rating from Japan's Computer Entertainment Ratings Organization but got bumped up to T for Teen when the ESRB got hold of it, not to mention how it seems like nearly every Shounen and Shoujo anime and manga that gets localized is either heavily censored or targetted at an older audience for its US release(fortunately, the latter practice is more common these days) and I can think of examples from both shounen and shoujo of fully naked anime girls(and even fully naked anime boys in the case of shounen) though admittedly, it's almost never intentionally sexual and barbie doll anatomy often comes into play if there's a clear view(Case in point, look no further than the transformation scenes in the original Sailormoon anime or scenes of the Tamers while Biomerged in Digimon Tamers).

I'm generally of the opinion that knowledge, not ignorance, is what it takes to protect the young from life's vices, but I doubt I'd be bothered much by attempts to keep forum contents to what you'd find in a shoujo or shounen manga or anime, but trying to satisfy the soccer moms would be extremely heavy handed in my mind.

Also, not every child loose on the internet is the product of parents who don't care. Kids being more tech savvy than their parents is the natural order of things, and short of constantly looking over a child's shoulder, controlling what they do on the computer is far from a trivial task. I was a teenager before my family got a computer with Internet, but there was nothing my parents could've done to monitor my Internet activity back then, and even with me having a BS in Computer Science, I'd be wondering where I went wrong in my child's education if I had a preteen I could set effective parental controls against.

Just so you know, I am blind.

Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.

i've been trying to be more like i used to be anyway, new and stricter guidelines is probably a good thing, because i'm sure i've pushed the rules before, sorry Mooncow, babe. kinda hypocritical to approach you for modship in the past then act all facetious all the time. it's partiality illness related, but i should be more ladylike and diligent at contributing positively to the community, like i used to. there was a time when you told me i was a little too strict with reporting and wasn't really what you were looking for in a mod. now if i was admin i'd be like "i ain't handing that broad responsibility."

plus these days it's really easy to talk to people offsite about your creepy waifus.

"You should do as I say/cause things are gonna be my way/I rule the world/so get down on your knees/better do as I please/until I tell you to stop~♥"discord: arianna#5279

So yeah. I think we should at least hold a stronger standard. And that if the people don't, the forum's moderators should.

This is pretty much my take on things. Back in the day it was very child-friendly more to the point of not insulting each other, not swearing etc. Now the internet has evolved (devolved) into talking about erotic games, half naked anime girls, life and relationship problems which get taken off track, etc.

If I remember right, we even had a point where "shut up" was questioned. Language itself has definitely become more loose. I'd hope that the impression that the internet has become more open on an interpersonal level is a consequence of you watching over this forum and not your impression of the entire internet when disregarding this community. I have to imagine your own site's userbase has to create some kind of bias or increased exposure.

I do think the standard of "acceptable content" has taken a strange direction. I remember how The Simpsons was fairly acceptable for families when I was growing up, but anything more like Family Guy, Futurama, or South Park were knowingly unacceptable for children. Like even the kids who watched them knew. But just this past month I had a young kid talk about South Park with the context that it is totally normal for him to do it, and no one corrected him. That's not even to mention how the popularity of Rick and Morty has resulted in a blatantly apparent demographic of kids watching the show, despite the show creators themselves committing to an age acceptability. That's not even touching on what is and isn't acceptable content on YouTube.

Maybe sensibilities have changed. But strict moderation can happen. I think when moderators are more strict it does help cultivate a more welcoming community: if we're pulled aside for fighting or talking about inappropriate topics, and it is removed from public participation, then the site's image can be maintained. I think the lack of curation has definitely impacted our gain of users.

^I can confirm from personal experience of being in 4th grade (so like 5 or so years ago) that children really do discuss playing COD on the playground, their knowledge of guns,
the episode of Family Guy they watched last night, and also other way more inappropriate subjects

There's a reason I didn't relate to many people in elementary school.

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But could stricter moderation on these subjects also add a more welcoming community? Most likely, I wouldn't think that it's hurt the amount of people that have come in prior though.
In the case of an odd new surge of people or a new chao garden, this could be very important.

The reason the "shut up" proposal was laughed at was because of how much it lived and breathed overbearing..

the kind of approach you're all thinking of for child friendly is hardly what any child would respect or adhere to. You want to talk about decline, let's talk about interests in general. At the very least with Sonic Mania's popularity there was a chance to get some kind of run off interest from someone interested in chao who found it after a sonic romp.

No lack of curation will impact our usergain as much as simple disinterest will and does. Chao practically don't exist beyond our space, the kind of changes made wouldn't attract people 13-15 let alone 10-12. All you'll be left with is a situation like Neogaf that kept removing more and more of its members over time with its developing culture. But given what I'm aware some of you are capable of and want, the only culture I can see coming from an attempt to push "child friendly" would be nothing but harmful bacteria.